Rejinaldo C. Santos' Obituary
What do you say about a great dad? That he picked cotton, bused tables, tended greens, roofed houses, drovebig rigs, and labored in the stifling heat of a factory for 30 years just so his kids wouldn"t have to? That hetaught his kids to fix their own cars, repair their own homes, work harder than the next guy, and put familyfirst? If so, that was our dad, Rejinaldo "?Ray' Santos.Rejinaldo C. Santos was born on February 3, 1935, to Librado and Julia Santos in Sonora, Texas.Sonora was a small town where Pop quit school in fifth grade to begin working to help support what was leftof his family after his Mom died. He and his older brother, Ramon, sometime later began migrating North forwork. In 1953, in Shelby, Michigan, he met the woman he would marry -?"?Juana Herrera.Pop was an old fashioned guy who worked hard to pay his bills, get a little fishing in, and spoil his children. Wenever lacked for anything as long as Pop was around. We learned not to say we admired or liked somethingbecause if Pop knew, we would wind up with it.It wasn"t unusual for Pop to come home after work when we were little and on a lark, ask Mom to pack up thecar and take us off to another State. He wanted to show us places you could go without having to work onceyou got there.Pop's laugh was infectious. He laughed until he cried at the Three Stooges, "?Airplane!', and "?Blazing Saddles',and the harder he laughed, the harder we laughed. We are lucky to have inherited his sense of humor.Pop was preceded in death by a daughter, Debra Ann, and a son, Rejinaldo Jr.He is survived by his wife of 61 years, Juana Herrera; daughter O. Santos ; sons Ramon (Esmerelda) Santos;Raul (Pamela) Santos ; and Kevin (Mandi) Santos; Seven grandchildren, thirteen great-?"?grandchildren, belovednieces and nephews, and four grand-?"?pups. He is also survived by sisters Adelia Hernandez and Patricia Santos.He was tough and strong and always made us feel safe. We"ll always feel safe because he spent his life givingus the love and confidence to create it ourselves.Per Daddy"s wishes, there will be no viewing and no funeral.A tough guy to the end who will be dearly missed by all those who loved him.
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